Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, to Indian and Spanish parents, David Villasenor came to the United States when he was sixteen, where he lived with Navajos in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at which time he learned the practice and spiritual symbolism of sand painting. Later, he was asked by Ernest Thompson Seton, who helped found the Boy Scouts of America, to teach boys how to paint in sand at his College of Indian Wisdom in Santa Fe. After serving in a medical unit in World War II, David was commissioned by the Museum of Natural History in New York to make 20 permanently mounted sand paintings, which are traditionally done on the ground and vanish after one day. Two of his 12-foot, 600-pound Aztec calendars are displayed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History and the Plaza de la Raza in Lincoln Park. He and his wife, Jean Villasenor, composed Indian Designs (of the Greater Southwest) after receiving many requests for Indian designs to use in quilting, applique, and stitchery.
